Musician Nurse Cycling Across Canada To Support David Suzuki Blue Dot Plan

This very minute musician Derek Olive is cycling across Canada in the hopes that his efforts will eventually help Canadian citizens and the environment.

Olive, who spends his working days as an emergency room nurse, wanted to do something to make a difference. The result? A 10-city, 3000km music cycling tour to support the David Suzuki Foundation's Blue Dot movement.

"For all I was trying to do in my daily life, compost, ride my bike year round, recycle, buy used, buy local, don't buy, I was feeling that all my choices didn't matter and all I could do was complain," Olive said in a press release. "I decided that I needed to take action beyond my daily life; I started planning a music cycling tour to support the Blue Dot movement."

The Blue Dot movement is an ambitious multi-year legal campaign from the David Suzuki Foundation whose long-term goal is to have environmental protections enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms via amendment.

These rights Blue Dot would like to see guaranteed for citizens include:

* Breathing clean air, drinking clean water, consuming safe food.
* Accessing nature.
* Knowing about pollutants released into the local environment.
* Participating in government decisions that will affect the environment.

Blue Dot's plan is to start locally. Thus far 77 separate Canadian municipal governments have passed declarations recognizing Canadian citizens' rights to fresh air, clean water and healthy food. From there Blue Dot will campaign to get provinces and territories to adopt environmental bills of rights. And after that, eventually, the federal government.

Olive's part in this involves raising funds and awareness for Blue Dot as he peddles towards performances from Vancouver to Montreal.

Here's a list of Olive's remaining tour dates.

Aug. 20 Swift Current, SK @ Urban Ground Coffee
Aug. 22 Regina, SK @ picnic location
Aug. 26 Winnipeg, MB @ Sam's Place
Aug. 27 VIA Rail Artist on Board
Aug. 28 VIA Rail Artist on Board
Aug. 29 Toronto, ON @ Free Times Cafe
Aug. 30 Millbrook, ON @ Pastry Peddler
Sept. 1 Westport, ON @ The Cove Inn
Sept. 2 Ottawa, ON @ West End Well
Sep.t 4 Montréal, QC @ Monument National - Le Cafe